Six vie for Bethlehem Area seat

Board to pick replacement Monday from 2 grads, 4 men who've applied.

August 10, 2010|By Steve Esack, OF THE MORNING CALL

Some people can't get enough of the Bethlehem Area School District.

And that appears to be a good thing.

Two recent Liberty High School graduates and a former board member were among five men who were interviewed Tuesday by directors for a vacancy on the nine-member board. A sixth candidate did not attend the meeting, in which all candidates received the same questions.

In age order, the candidates were: Democrat Jordan Roman, 18, of Hanover Township, Northampton County, a 2010 Liberty High School graduate and incoming Moravian College freshman; Democrat Basilio A. Bonilla Jr., 19, of Bethlehem, a 2009 Liberty graduate and incoming Moravian College sophomore; Republican Benjamin M. Tenaglia III, 61, of Hanover, an investment banker who lost re-election in the May primary; Democrat David P. Sanders, 61, of Bethlehem who owns Lump's Deli in the city; and Republican Raymond H. Berger Jr., 76, of Hanover, a self-employed financial manager.

The board will vote Monday to choose a replacement for Judith Dexter, who resigned last month for family and professional reasons.

Roman said he could be a voice for students and taxpayers. He cited his experience as a member of 16 high school clubs, student council officer, two-sport varsity athlete and community volunteer. If more students got involved in activities, they too would succeed, he said, but academics come before the arts and athletics.

The biggest obstacle facing the district is its finances, Roman said. The board and superintendent must work together and compromise for the benefit of students, who do not deserve to have textbooks falling apart.

Director Bill Burkhardt said he knows Roman because Roman for many years has worked in his ice cream shop, where other district students and some staffers also work.

Before the meeting, Roman said his employment with Burkhardt would not be a conflict of interest.

Bonilla, an intern in state Sen. Lisa Boscola's office, also said he could be a voice for students. He said he is a former special education student who worked his way into college prep classes through hard work, good teachers and a sense of belonging as a member of the Liberty football and wrestling teams. Bonilla said as a student and mentor to elementary school children, he knows where the curriculum holes are and how the student code of conduct often is not enforced by teachers and administrators.

Tenaglia was appointed in 2008 to fill a board vacancy, but lost in the May primary election. Since then, Tenaglia said, he has stayed involved by attending board meetings and volunteering at Liberty, where he is treasurer of the theater booster club. As a parent of three students and a former board member, Tenaglia said, he is pleased with academic programs.

However, Tenaglia said, the district needs to continue to fix its finances, an area where his financial background has been credited by other board members in the past with helping the board see and understand the depths of the district's financial problems under the previous administration.

Sanders said his experience as a small-business owner for 22 years and chairman of the Bethlehem Housing Authority would be an asset to the board. He cited his work on the authority in getting landlords to pay taxes as an example of his commitment and work ethic.

Berger said as a former union member and military veteran, he knows how hard teachers work and that they should be paid an adequate salary.

"But they do not have to be paid ahead of everyone else," he said.

Berger said the district's primary responsibly is educating students. But the district needs to trim costs because the 6.2 percent tax increase the board approved in June cannot be sustained by taxpayers in the future.